Across the Stars
by The Little Geeky Piano Girl
Summary: One-shot. Star Wars AU. Basically an attempt at writing from Rai's POV.   In the midst of a war, two people are torn apart, but Raimundo will not just sit back and let all he knows be taken from him...


_Yay, my first one-shot! And wow, I did not mean for it to turn out this long...over 6,000 words... O_O_

_Anyway, this was something I started a while ago and when I started my Merlin Star Wars AU, well, it made me want to work on this again. One thing - yes, I do realise that 'Across the Stars' is the love theme from Episode II: Attack of the Clones, and this is based on Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, but I'm terrible with titles and I rather liked this one._

_This was also a way to challenge myself with writing from a boys point of view, which is difficult because I'm a girl. This is my first time writing in Rai's POV (apart from short snippets from other stories) so please don't judge me too harshly! And please tell me how I did!_

_I'm not too sure about the last paragraph/sentence, so... I may take it out later._

_Anyway, enjoy! And please review!_

_EDIT: I've just fixed a few mistakes (one typo and an inconsistency as Clay was originally the one in the Silver Manta Ray, but after thinking about it I changed it to Omi and left one or two sentences that mentioned Omi on Endor...oops)_

* * *

><p><span>Across The Stars<span>

"Welcome, young Pedrosa. I have been expecting you." The voice was a familiar one; one associated with oppression and hatred throughout the galaxy, though I didn't let any of this show in my face. I had learnt from the best, after all. Even if she hadn't really known she was teaching me.

"You no longer need those." The restraints around my wrists fell to the floor with a clang and I unconsciously rubbed my wrists. Ordering his guards away, the owner of the voice spoke again. "I'm looking forward to completing your training. In time you will call me 'master'."

I shook my head with a small smile, the way you would when correcting a small child. "You are gravely mistaken. You won't convert me like you did my father."

"Oh no, my young Jedi," he looked steadily at me, eyes boring into me. "You will find that it is you who are mistaken…about a great many things…"

I didn't let my facial expression change, though I felt like scowling at him. "His lightsaber." Spoke up the other man in the room – my father.

"Ah, a Jedi's weapon." He took it and began to examine it, turning it over in his hands. I had to resist the urge to wrench it from his grip. "Much like your father's. By now you must know that your father can never be turned from the Dark Side; so it will be with you."

I smiled indulgently, shaking my head. "You're wrong." He raised his eyebrows at me. "Soon I will be dead, and you with me."

"Hmm." He scrutinised me carefully before he grinned. "Perhaps you refer to the imminent attack of your Rebel fleet." I fought back the shock I felt at his knowledge of the plan, though he seemed to know what I was thinking anyway, because his grin widened. "Yes…I assure you, we are quite safe from your friends here."

As he spoke I could hear the disdain in his voice and smiled blandly, raising my eyes back at him. "Your overconfidence is your weakness."

"Your faith in your friends is yours." He shot back. Again, I fought back a scowl.

"It is pointless to resist, my son." Came my father's voice from behind me, but I ignored him. I wasn't about to just give in.

The Emperor – as he called himself – seemed to realise that this was what I was thinking and smiled again. "Everything that has transpired has done so according to my design." He gloated. "Your friends up there on the Sanctuary Moon," I just about managed to wrestle back the surprise that time. How did he know! "are walking into a trap. As is your Rebel fleet!" Ah. That's how. Of course – the whole thing was too easy… "It was I who allowed the Alliance to know the location of the shield generator. It is quite safe from your pitiful little band. An entire legion of my best troops awaits them." He laughed mockingly. "Oh…I'm afraid he deflector shield will be quite operational when your friends arrive."

I could feel anger begin to swell up, but I forced it down, knowing I needed to keep a clear head if I was to stand any chance at getting out of this.

The Emperor seemed displeased with my control over my emotions and he sneered. "Come, boy. See for yourself." He indicated the large window a few steps away from him. "From here you will witness the final destruction of the Alliance and the end of your insignificant Rebellion."

From the window I watched the attack teams arrive – the X-Wings, the Y-Wings, the medical frigate, the control centre, and somewhere in there, the Silver Manta Ray, with Omi inside, leading the operation – and saw their aborted attack, proving that the shields were still up. I saw the Star Destroyers corner them, keeping them between them and the Death Star as the imperial fighters descended upon them.

I remembered how as a young boy I had dreamed of joining the Alliance – as all young boys in the galaxy did – though as I grew up, only a handful – me included – continued with that dream and many left to do so, though I was tethered by my debts to my aunt and uncle for taking me in as a baby.

I felt the anger I had felt at their deaths – along with those of my cousins – as well as all the other emotions I had ever held for the Empire; none of them positive. I struggled to contain it, but it was hard with the evidence surrounding me, watching those who I had come to see as friends die before me, not knowing if one of them could be Omi.

"You want this, don't you?" The Emperor's voice startled me, and I turned to see him contemplating my lightsaber. It was rather tempting… "The hate is swelling in you now. Take your Jedi weapon. Use it. I am unarmed. Strike me down with it. " He hissed. "Give in to your anger. With each passing moment you make yourself more my servant."

I turned back to the window, shaking my head. "No."

"It is unavoidable." The Emperor said quietly. "It is your destiny. You, like your father, are now mine!" He sounded positively gleeful, so I didn't turn around, not wanting to see that twisted grin on his wrinkled face.

The space battle wasn't getting any better for the Alliance, but they were still fighting. The Emperor didn't seem too happy with that. "As you can see, my young apprentice, your friends have failed. Now witness the firepower of this _fully armed _and _operational_ battle station!" I bristled as he called me his apprentice, but then the rest of his words registered. Operational? Oh, no.

I turned to see the Emperor press a button on the arm of his chair and speak into it. "Fire at will, Commander." I quickly turned back to the window to watch what happened. The Death Star emitted an energy blast, sending it towards one of the command centres. The fighters regrouped – the fact that the Death Star was operational changed everything. It was all down to Clay, Dojo and Em's team down on Endor.

"Your fleet has lost. And your friends on the Endor moon will not survive. There is no escape, my young apprentice. The Alliance will die…as will your friends."

I thought back to the friends I had made in the Alliance – Master Fung, the one who, unknowingly, gave me the out I had been looking for; Omi, the cocky smuggler and his companion, Dojo, without whom I would still be stuck on Tatooine; Em, the sister I never knew I had; Clay, the laid-back pilot friend of Omi's who, within two weeks of knowing him, had become like my big brother – as well as those friends I had found again, the ones who had left for the Academy while I was stuck working for my uncle – my childhood playmates Aidan and Jermaine in particular.

"Good." The Emperor crooned from behind me. "I can feel your anger. I am defenceless. Take your weapon! Strike me down with all of your hatred and your journey to the Dark Side will be complete," he urged.

My hands itched with the need to summon my lightsaber, but I resisted, turning back to the space battle as I breathed deeply, trying to reign my emotions in.

The Emperor was tiring of my control – obviously it was more than he had expected – for he growled darkly – so quietly I was barely sure I heard it – and pushed another button on his chair. "Bring her in" he said tersely before releasing the button. "Now, boy," he turned back to me with a sadistic grin. "You will see what happens to Rebels who don't co-operate."

The door slid open with a hiss and I watched as two of the red-clad Imperial guards entered, dragging a motionless figure between them. As they drew nearer I felt my heart stop and my blood run cold – Kimiko!

Seeing her again sent me back, to the last time I had seen her – three years ago…

* * *

><p>I had woken up – and by the heat I could tell that it was early, much earlier than I usually woke, and so I looked around to see what it was that had woken me. My eyes fell upon Kimiko, who was dressed apart from her belt and boots. She turned when she felt my eyes on her and smiled – happily, though apologetically.<p>

"Another mission?" I asked, my voice still thick with sleep.

She nodded her head slowly. "Keiko just called. I'm sorry, Raimundo, but-"

I shook my head, cutting off her protests. "They need you." I grinned at her. "It's okay. You know I'd be out there too, if I could."

"You will one day." She smiled, pushing the hair back off my forehead. "I'd like the Masters to evaluate you." She murmured.

Kimiko worked with the Alliance, as one of the last trained Jedi – one of three – and as the youngest and strongest, she was the one to carry out missions for the Alliance. It also helped that whilst the other two were known by the Empire – having fought with Vader before he turned to the Sith – she was trained in secret by Master Yoda, in his exile on Dagobah.

That was actually how I met her. Not on Dagobah, but working for the Alliance. She had come to Tatooine to speak with Master Fung and had run into trouble with some Tusken Raiders. I was wandering the hills after an argument with my uncle (about the Space Academy, as usual) and stumbled upon them. Between us – though mostly her – we chased away the Sand People, though I exposed my secret in doing so. I had always thought myself odd, strange, for what I'm able to do with the wind, but she showed me that she could do the same, only with fire.

I took her back to my small house – one of the only things I owned to myself, having earned the money and moved out of my aunt and uncle's moisture farm – to clean up and take care of the small wounds she had sustained. We spoke a little about ourselves; she told me how she was a Jedi, working for the Alliance, and that Masters Fung and Yoda had told her – when she had shown them her fire ability – that she wasn't alone, that there were four of us out there – one for each element.

Eventually, she had to leave, but after that, she visited often, each time for longer. I learnt how her mother had died in childbirth and her father – an important figure in the capitol, Coruscant – was fiercely overprotective of her and as soon as he had learnt of her Jedi abilities, had sent her to Master Yoda in the hopes that she would be able to protect herself against the many who tried to get to his money through her.

And in return, I told her everything; how I had never known my parents, had grown up with my aunt, uncle and cousins. I told her more than I had ever told anyone – even how I sometimes resented my uncle for holding me back from applying to the Academy, the one thing I had dreamed of since I was small.

I soon realised that I had fallen for her, head-over-heels, and though I knew that I was as far out of her league as it was possible to be, I had to tell her – it wasn't fair on either of us. I _had_ meant to tell her, but she was so radiant, talking about her latest mission and the feelings that come from working with your element, that I didn't think, and the next thing I knew, I was kissing her, and she was kissing me back.

We married not long after that – her father flew in from Coruscant for the wedding, along with her best friend practically from birth, Keiko, a fellow member of the Alliance – and she moved in with me, though she still had to leave for her missions from time to time. Keiko had managed to get her a month off after our wedding and tried her best to ensure there was still plenty of time between missions to see each other.

That morning was just like the countless others when she left, I kissed her goodbye and wished her luck as I watched her board her shuttle after driving her to Mos Eisley.

But she didn't come back.

After three weeks I grew anxious, trying to console myself that perhaps the mission simply was taking longer than expected, but after another two weeks I contacted Keiko. She was worried too; Kimiko hadn't been in contact and it had never taken her this long before, especially not on a simple intelligence mission.

After that, it was hell. Every morning, I would wake up, hoping against hope that this was the day she would come back, feeling my heart leap into my throat each time I heard a knock at the door, praying that she would walk through it. But she never did, and I couldn't do anything but work in my uncle's damned moisture farm, unable to leave this blasted desert planet.

That all changed the day Uncle bought the two new droids, the protocol droid and the R2 unit, C3-PO and R2-D2. It all started with a hidden message in the cheeky little droid I had grown quite fond of; when he ran away to find Master Fung; when the stormtroopers tracked them to Aunt and Uncle's house, destroying it, destroying the last thing that kept me tied to Tatooine.

And so, three years later, I headed out with two droids, two smugglers and a Jedi, to aid the Alliance in the hope of finding my wife.

I saw Keiko only just before we left on this last mission, and she looked sympathetically at me, gripping my shoulder. "I'm so sorry." She had whispered. I realised that she had given up hope, and knew that I never would, that I'd never stop searching.

And now she stood before me again, though she was hardly recognisable as herself. Gone was her bright smile, her once sparkling cerulean eyes now clouded and unfocused, as though she was seeing none of what was before her, nor did she react, supported by the two guards, face expressionless, hair limp and her once white robe tattered and greying,

I couldn't keep the shock off my face, though at the Emperor's pleased look I managed to reign in the horror and sorrow, as well as the anger; the burning desire, _need_, to scream, shout, demand to know what they had done to her and to make them pay. My hands clenched into fists and I vaguely noticed that I was shaking. I was fighting my every instinct to keep under control now, though I was slipping.

"What have you done to her?" I managed to choke out, trying not to give away just how much she meant to me, for fear of what they would do.

"This is the by-product of continued resistance to mind probing."

I couldn't stand it anymore – I snapped. They had hurt Kimiko; continually drove into her mental defences until she was left practically catatonic… I whirled around, summoned my lightsaber, and swung it at the Emperor, only to be blocked by my father. I was driven by pure fury, not even noticing what I was doing as I continued to swing and be blocked. All I could think of was Kimiko, looking so broken…

After a while I came back to my senses and realised who I was fighting and I stumbled backwards, recoiling my lightsaber.

"Good." The Emperor's laughter sounded from behind me. "Use your aggressive feelings, boy! Let the hate flow through you!"

"Master Fung has taught you well." Father remarked when I recalled the beam of my lightsaber, though it was not Master Fung's lessons that had me do so, but Kimiko. Kimiko, who taught me the meaning of being a Jedi, of compassion, of overcoming anger despite her fiery temper. Besides, for all the bad things he'd done, he's still my father, and I can't fight him.

"I will not fight you, father."

He contemplated me for a moment. "You are unwise to lower your defences." With that, he lunged at me and I just managed to bring up my lightsaber to prevent myself from being sliced in half. I continued backing up, blocking each blow my father swung at me, until eventually I found leverage to push myself into the air – drawing upon both the force and my element to propel me further – and onto a walkway out of my father's reach.

"Your thoughts betray you, father." I spoke up from my perch, replacing my lightsaber in my belt. "I feel the good in you, the conflict."

"There is no conflict." He shot back immediately, but I was telling the truth. I really could feel conflict within my father, though it was deep down and tiny.

"You couldn't bring yourself to kill me before, and I don't believe you'll destroy me now." I really didn't. Last time, he had me entirely at his mercy, he could've just killed me, especially when I refused to join him, but he didn't. I think somewhere, deep down inside, he doesn't want to kill his son.

"You underestimate the power of the Dark Side." He denied. "If you will not fight, then you will meet your destiny." He suddenly turned round, flinging his extended lightsaber at me and I ducked out of the way. The lightsaber hit the walkway's support column instead, slicing right through it. It collapsed and I rolled to the side as I heard the Emperor's laughter. He was _enjoying_ this!

I stayed hidden in the shadows – I didn't want to fight my father, but nor would I turn to the Dark Side. "You cannot hide forever, Raimundo." I heard my father call out, so I answered, throwing my voice along the wind so as to disguise my location.

"I will not fight you."

"Give yourself to the Dark Side." He urged, stalking around in the darkness, trying to find me. "It is the only way to save your friends." I paused. "Yes, your thoughts betray you. Your feelings for them are strong. Especially for…" he paused for a moment before he spoke again, in a tone of disbelief, "your wife!" My eyes flew wide open and I peeked out from my hiding place to watch the others; the Emperor had a wide, though shocked, grin on his face and father walked towards the guards and Kimiko, toying with his lightsaber in his hand.

"So…" he said triumphantly, coming to a stop next to Kimiko, "this is your wife. Your feelings have now betrayed her, too. If you will not turn to the Dark Side, then perhaps she will."

I snapped. The thought of Kimiko, with all her defences lowered, being forced to – unknowingly – turn to the Dark Side… I leapt out of my hiding place with a cry of "No!" and flung myself at my father, swinging my lightsaber furiously.

Taken aback by the force of my attack, I continued to drive father backwards until he could go no further and in my rage, I cut off his lightsaber hand.

"Good." The Emperor said from behind me again, sounding delighted. "Your hate has made you powerful. Now, fulfil your destiny and take your father's place at my side."

But all I could do was stare at the cut I'd made, at the metal and wires at my father's wrist, like my own, the wound similar to the one he had dealt me, that I knew none but Kimiko could fix. I looked down at my own hand, before glancing back at Kimiko and threw my lightsaber aside.

"Never." I told the Emperor. "I'll never turn to the Dark Side." I grinned, feeling lighter somehow. "You've failed, your highness. I am a Jedi, like my father and my wife before me." I shot a glance at the still senseless Kimiko.

"So be it…Jedi." The Emperor sneered. "If you will not be turned, you will be destroyed." His sneer turned into a malicious grin and I expected him to turn his own lightsaber on me, but he extended his arms instead.

Something Kimiko had mentioned once, in passing, years ago flashed into my mind. The Sith harnessed the power of the force as the Jedi did, but they twisted it, trying to use it for their own gain. Vader used it to choke you without having to lay a hand on you and the Emperor harnessed lightning.

I braced myself for the impact of the lightning, but it never came. The Emperor turned at the last second, sending his lightning towards Kimiko instead. The force of it lifted her into the air and she convulsed, screaming in agony. I finally understood where the blackened patches on her robe had come from, and I should've been furious; even more so than before.

But I was terrified, so much so that I wasn't capable of feeling anything more. I looked about frantically for my lightsaber, knowing that I couldn't summon it if I didn't know where it was. I tried desperately to stop the Emperor, throwing both the force and my element at him, but objectively I knew that it was no use. My panic and fear was welling up, crushing my ability to move, think, to do anything but stare in horror, rooted to the spot.

"No!" I finally managed to choke out, still trying to push the Emperor away. "No! Stop! Please!"

"Young fool…" the Emperor laughed, not stopping his lightning. "Only now, at the end, do you understand. Your feeble skills are no match for the power of the Dark Side."

Kimiko's screams resounded in my ears, causing more pain than I'm sure the lightning caused her. "Please! _Please!_" I screamed at him. "Just stop! Take me instead – kill me! Just…stop!" I could feel tears springing to my eyes as he continued, laughing at my desperate pleas.

I turned to my father – my only hope now – to find him watching. "Father, please!" I begged tearfully. "Help me – help her! She- he- make him stop!" Father just stared. I couldn't see his expression from behind his mask, but I was soon distracted by the Emperor's cruel and mocking laugh.

He finally stopped the lightning and Kimiko dropped from the air. I dove and caught her before she hit the ground – the guards who had been supporting her had left – and pulled her to my chest, rocking her as she trembled, until the residual twitches passed, but she showed no sign of awareness or recognition – a testimony to just how deeply they had tried to probe her mind.

The Emperor had stopped laughing now, causing me to turn around to face him, still cradling Kimiko protectively against my chest. "Now, young Pedrosas…" he smiled; an evil, twisted smile, as his eyes flickered between us. "You will die."

He turned the lightning back to Kimiko, and as her screams once again wrought through the air, I tried to pull her behind me, to block the beam from hitting her and pull it to myself, but the Emperor pushed me backwards, using the force, pinning me to some barrels and forcing me to watch Kimiko's pain.

I heard my own voice add to the screams ringing out and suddenly father was behind the Emperor, lifting him and throwing him down a power shaft, the force lightning rebounding on himself as he did so.

Freed from the Emperor's hold, I once again caught Kimiko before she hit the ground. As I held her shuddering form, I distantly heard the Emperor's dying scream.

He fell quiet and I felt Kimiko's shaking subside and her hands clench in my robes. She pulled her head back slightly and I almost cried out – her eyes were bright again and though not sparkling with her usual joy, I could see recognition and hope in them.

"Rai?" she whispered, her voice hoarse from disuse, and I did let out a sob, pulling her desperately against my chest.

"Kimiko…Kimiko…" I felt her cling back just as tightly.

A sudden rocking of the ship brought me back to where we were, and suddenly a blaring alarm sounded. "Come on. "I said urgently, gently pulling her to her feet. "We need to get out of here. Can you stand?"

She nodded shakily, still clutching at me for support. "Why? What's happening?"

"The plan's worked. Clay, Dojo and Em must've gotten the deflector shield down and someone's shot the main reactor – probably Omi." I was babbling now, forgetting that she would have no clue as to who I was talking about in my pure joy.

"What?"

"Long story short – we're on the Death Star, which the Alliance has just shot. It'll blow in a few minutes. We did it, Kimiko! The Emperor's dead – we're free!"

She smiled brightly before frowning slightly. "What about Vader?"

"It's alright – he killed the Emperor."

"He what? Why?"

"Well, I don't know for sure, but the Emperor was torturing you and I was pleading for him to stop it, to do something."

"So he killed the Emperor because he was torturing me and so hurting you?" she asked confusedly.

"He's my father." I answered quietly. She looked shocked, and that's when it hit me. "Father!" I turned and ran – half-carrying Kimiko – to where he was slumped against the railing he had thrown the Emperor over, his mechanical breathing uneven, gasping. "We need to get him out of here." I muttered.

I felt Kimiko slip out of my arms and walk shakily to father's other side, sliding his arm over her shoulders and smiling gently at me. I grinned back at her and pulled his other arm over my own shoulder and together we mostly dragged him to the hangar, where we found an Imperial shuttle.

Kimiko looked as though she was about to collapse, so we stopped at the ramp, lowering father onto it so that he was supported and Kimiko sat beside me while I knelt before him. "Raimundo," he said, his voice weaker than usual. "Help me take this mask off."

I shook my head. "But you'll die." I protested, voice shaky after everything I had been through in the last hour.

He dismissed my protest. "Nothing can stop that now." He said. "Just for once…let me look upon you with my own eyes." Shakily, I reached up and gently pulled his mask off, stripping away his breathing support system. The face below the mask was pale, not having seen the sun in many years, and scarred, but he smiled at me nonetheless. "Now…" he murmured weakly and I had to lean in to hear him. "Go, my son. Leave me."

"No." I said firmly, but he kept smiling.

"You have more important things to worry about than me." He said softly, his eyes sliding to Kimiko, filled with regret.

"No." I repeated. "You're coming with us. I can't leave you here, I've got to save you."

"You already have, Raimundo." He chuckled, reaching up to place his hand on my arm. "You were right about me." He said quietly, his voice trailing off now. "Tell your sister…you were right…"

I bowed my head as his eyes closed and his body went limp, hand falling from my arm. I felt Kimiko's hand on my shoulder, the other rubbing gently at my upper arm. I leant into her comforting embrace for a moment, before standing up. We were still on a battle station that was about to explode, after all.

* * *

><p>Moments after we escaped the Death Star, the enormous battle station exploded. I heard Kimiko come into the cockpit and sit in the co-pilot's seat, having put my father into the medical bay of the small spacecraft.<p>

"You have a sister?" she asked quietly. I turned to face her, smiling slightly. "Only, your father…he mentioned a sister. I never knew you had a sister."

"Neither did I." I replied quietly. "Not until two days ago. You might know her – she works for the Alliance. Emmaline?"

"The princess of Alderaan?" I nodded. "Does that make you a prince?" she teased.

"No." I answered with a grin. "She was adopted. Master Fung separated us at birth to keep us safe."

"You met Master Fung?" she asked excitedly.

"Yeah, but he died the first time we were on the Death Star – he fought with father and let himself be cut down while we escaped. You might still see him, though. I've seen him as a ghost a few times."

"Oh," she said quietly. "Only me and Master Yoda left, then."

"Actually…"

"Not Master Yoda too?" she gasped.

"Yes." I told her sadly. "You're the last fully trained Jedi left."

"Fully trained? You mean…" My mouth twitched, giving me away, and she beamed. "I knew it! I _knew_ you had the power of the force! But you never believed me!"

I grinned back at her, revelling in her excitement and enthusiasm. "You won't believe the things that have happened to me in the last few months."

"Months?" she asked quietly. "I've been in there for months?"

I reached out and squeezed her hand. "No." I answered, and by the tone of my voice and the way she clutched at my hand, I knew that she understood. "Everyone in the Alliance will be so happy to see you again." I told her, knowing that it had to be said, but hoping that a lighter conversation would soften the blow. "I mean…it's been three years…"

"Three years?" she said, in a very small voice, and I pulled her into my lap, stroking her back and kissing her hair as I told her all that had happened to me since leaving Tatooine in search of her.

"I always said you'd get off Tatooine one day." She remarked quietly when I'd finished, my hands idly playing with her hair. "I knew you were destined for something bigger, but I never imagined…"

I hugged her close. "I know."

* * *

><p>When we reached Ealdor we landed a little way away from the forest, from the Ewok village from where I could hear the celebrations. We landed near a rocky ridge where we set up a pure, placing my father's body on it.<p>

I stood back as Kimiko took my hand, lighting the pyre with but a thought. I squeezed her hand, thankful for her support, thankful to any and all deities that exist that I had found her.

"A proper Jedi funeral." Kimiko whispered beside me, and I felt a small smile stretch across my lips. For all the time my father had spent as a Sith Lord, he was a Jedi; until the very end.

* * *

><p>After the pyre had burnt out – staying behind to see that the forest didn't catch fire – we followed the sounds of the celebrating Rebels – those who were in both the space battle and the ground team.<p>

Entering the village, Em noticed us first and rushed forward to hug me, Clay not far behind (as usual). She paused a moment when she saw Kimiko, and my hand still firmly clasped around hers. Cocking her head in curiosity, I knew she was about to ask, but was interrupted when a high-pitched gasp came from behind her. "Kimiko?"

Kimiko grinned happily when the owner of the voice flung itself upon her. "Good to see you too, Keiko." She laughed.

"I thought you were dead!" Keiko sobbed, clinging tight to her childhood friend. "I thought…"

"It's alright, Keiko." Kimiko soothed her shaking friend. "I'm alright, see?"

Keiko pulled back with a watery smile, wiping at er eyes. "I'm so… You found her, Raimundo. You never gave up, did you?" I shook my head, smiling, happier than I had been in years,

I think this confused the others, who had never seen me truly happy, for they were staring. Omi, Aidan and Jermaine had joined us now, their eyes lingering on our joined hands.

"Raimundo?" Em asked curiously. "Maybe you'd like to introduce us?"

"Oh! Right, sorry." I kept grinning, the reality of what had happened settling in. "Kimiko, this is my sister. Em; Clay, her boyfriend; Omi; the dragon's Dojo; Jermaine; and you met Aidan before, didn't you? Guys, this is my wife, Kimiko."

They looked at me for a moment. "You two got married?" Aidan grinned. "Congratulations! Though I knew it was coming. However, Raimundo Pedrosa, how could you not invite me to your wedding!" Aidan growled, half-jokingly.

"You'd already left for the Academy – I didn't know how to contact you." I defended myself.

"I tried." Kimiko spoke up, surprising me. "Keiko and I tracked you down in the Academy, but you'd just started your Isolation Training year and, well… We didn't want to wait that long." She said sheepishly. I squeezed her hand to show her my gratitude – though, come to think of it, she could probably feel in my thoughts just how grateful I was that she had tried so hard to have my best friend at our wedding.

Aidan smiled, a genuine smile now, all traces of joking gone. "That's alright. You're happy – that's all that matters." He said, looking seriously at me and I got the feeling that he knew that Kimiko had been missing.

"I'd really love to get to know all of you," Kimiko spoke up then, "but maybe I could get cleaned and changed first?"

"Oh, don't worry about that." Em laughed. "It's not a fancy party. Everyone's still in their clothes from the fight – no matter how smelly they are." She teased, nudging both Clay and me.

"Yes," Kimiko smiled back, "but you've only been wearing them one day. I've been in these robes for the last three years." Em gasped while Keiko rushed Kimiko to the nearest Ewok house.

"Three years?" Em asked, turning to me for answers.

"Kimiko went missing on a mission for the Alliance three years ago," I said, trying not to linger on it. "She was captured by the Empire and imprisoned on the Death Star like you were, only she refused to give into the mind probe." Em looked stricken and I saw some admiration in her eyes.

I was suddenly struck with a horrible thought – was Kimiko only cells away from us when we rescued Em from the first Death Star? What if-

No. I shook myself out of that line of thought, knowing it would get me nowhere. Kimiko was fine now, I'd found her and that was all that mattered.

"That's why I agreed to go with Master Fung – to look for her." I finished.

"That's awful." Em murmured before turning to follow after Keiko and Kimiko.

* * *

><p>I talked with the others for most of the night, until I spotted Kimiko alone on the rope bridge that led into the Ewok village. I came up behind her, wrapping my arms around her and resting my chin on her head. "Hey."<p>

She half-turned so she could rest her head on my shoulder, mumbling "Hey" back.

"Tired?" I asked her, trailing my fingers through her once again glossy hair. I felt her nodding against my neck. "We'll rest here tonight, and then we'll head to Coruscant – to let your father know you're safe." She hummed against my throat, curling her fingers into my robes to keep her exhausted body upright.

I smiled softly, kissing her on the head, and looking up, I saw the ghosts of Master Fung, Master Yoda and my father, smiling serenely at the pair of us, curled together on the bridge.

I wrapped my arms tighter around Kimiko, as the three Jedi ghosts watched us with proud smiles on their faces. Though love and marriage had not been encouraged in the time of the Jedi Order, together, Kimiko and I were stronger, more determined to protect the galaxy, in order to keep the other safe.

And I may not have known what lay ahead of us, but I knew, that no matter what happened, I wasn't going to let Kimiko go again; I would fight until the end of the world to keep her safe.


End file.
